The poor boy and the Princess
by moonbird
Summary: set after "Cold blood" Amy is feeling empty inside, as a strange compulsion causes her to write a fairy tale about a princess who was so busy looking up that she never bothered looking down and the poor boy by her side who prayed she would see him.


_Once upon a time, there was a boy._ _The boy was poor and humble, yet he had a great many deal of virtues._ _He was kind, gentle, intelligent, brave, compassionate, and his heart was made_ _of the purest gold, though most importantly, he loved the Princess above_ _everything else._ _Every day and every night he would guard the princess as she was the most_ _valuable treasure, and for him she was._ _He would support her when he knew she was wrong, he would protect her when she_ _made her stupid decisions, he would bring her flowers and bathe her in_ _sunshine. Though he was poor and couldn't give her much, he had already given_ _her something worth more than anything else in the universe: His heart. All he_ _wanted in return was for her to look down and meet his gaze._ _But his gifts and undivided attention were in vain, for the princess' gaze_ _only pointed one direction: Upwards. The only place the little princess would_ _ever look was up at the stars, waiting._ _Waiting to be taken away from her little garden with the duck pond, and away_ _from the poor boy who had given her his heart._ _No, she wanted more than this. She wanted to see the universe, to taste the_ _finest wine and touch a burning star with her own hand._ _So busy was she looking up, that she never looked down, and never met the poor_ _boys eyes, so she never even had the chance to discover what a precious gift_ _he had offered her. And it was all her own fault._

"Amy!"

Shocked, Amy almost dropped the pen as she heard the Doctor call out to her, his voice was neither cheerful nor enthusiastic, as she had come to suspect it would be every time it was time to explore a new place. Red cheeked and ashamed, Amy put the piece of paper she was writing on down. What was wrong with her? Here she was, living the dream and adventure, so what was she doing writing? When had she ever written anything fictional in her entire life? And now that she had apparently gained a taste for it, why fiction? Why not about all those amazing things she was seeing? She could write the best selling diary of the year with all those unbelievable things. Angrily, Amy wiped a tear away from her face, before she was suddenly staring at her wet hand. "What the hell?" She could fell her checks were still red, and for some reason a tear had escaped. She felt depressed and unable to speak. The fictional poor boy she had written about on her paper stuck in her mind, and he made her cry. How could the princess have been so stupid?

"Amy, are you okay?" The Doctor popped his head into her room with a worried look in his eyes.

"Yes, I am fine," Amy responded, hiding her emotional state as much as possible. "Where are we going this time?" she asked with a vague smile on her lips. "Something random and new?"

"No..." The Doctor shook his head, though his eyes never left Amy. "I have chosen our destination carefully this time. Ancient Greece. Arcadia, more specifically. Relaxing, beautiful, mind soothing."

"Why?" Amy asked a bit baffled. "I don't need to relax."

For some moments, the Doctor was looking at Amy with a very odd look, almost hurtful. "I think I do," the Doctor finally responded. "Please," he added, surprising Amy as the Doctor hardly never said something like please.

"Well of course," Amy blinked. "It's your time machine ain't it? Relaxing sounds good."

_In the time the princess was spending looking up in the stars, the poor boy_ _did anything to get into her favor. One day it happened that the princess was_ _very sad._ _She was sad about being left alone in her little garden, as always, the poor_ _boy was there, right beside her, and suddenly she realized she was never_ _alone, because he was there, even though she was still looking towards the_ _stars. His hand found its way to hers, and before she knew it, they would_ _always hold hands. She would depend on his strength, his ability to make her_ _smile, and his words that made her feel special._ _It had become time for her to look down from the stars, and see what she had._ _But something held her back, something in her told her, that if she would only_ _keep looking, she would be rewarded._

Amy hugged the piece of useless paper close to her heart, as she looked sadly down at a couple of young lovers. Even in ancient Greece that simple aspect of human nature just wouldn't be undermined. The sky had turned dark, and above her the stars were shining, all of them untouchable, but not for her. Not anymore. She had been rewarded. All she needed to do was to point towards a star and say "That one!" and whoosh, she would go there. She could be there in a minute, in a second, ten minutes ago.

_And then it happened, crashing down from the stars came the princess's_ _reward._ _The princess did not believe it herself, but there it was, everything a_ _princess could dream of._ _The new suitor, the man she had been waiting for, for so long, was much more_ _fitting for a real princes: The rich dashing man, with his gifts of magic and_ _his abilities to take the princess beyond the stars._ _He was the man who the rest of the world centered around, and he too would_ _give the princess everything she desired._ _So shining and so impressive was the man, that the blind princess immediately_ _dismissed the poor boy, who had been fighting for her heart for so long._ _When the princess was invited to the dashing man's magical world, she stepped_ _inside without hesitation, and before she knew it, she had left the poor boy_ _behind._ _Never realizing that it was the mistake of her life._

Amy had to stop writing for a moment, as she had to keep her tears back. "My sweet dump boy." The words escaped her mouth, though it would be impossible for anyone but herself to distinguish the words, as they were completely spoiled by her crying. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" she scorned herself. "Stupid." She looked down on the used paper, and it was almost as if the pen had its own life, as it put itself down on the paper.

_Fortunately, the dashing wise man, that could travel beyond the stars, was_ _also very wise._ _He was able to see what she didn't. The man would never forgive himself he was_ _responsible for tearing the young lovers apart. So he did the only thing he_ _thought could solve the problem. He came back to the little garden, bringing_ _the princess for the sole purpose of picking up the poor boy, and letting the_ _poor boy travel with them, so the three of them could travel together. In that_ _way the princess could have everything she had ever wanted, she could both_ _travel beyond the stars and have her true love.._ _Unfortunately, the princess wasn't nearly as wise as the traveling man, and_ _her mind was torn. She told herself she had been waiting for so long, and she_ _was sure the dashing man was what she wanted. Only obligation caused her to_ _hold the poor boy's hand once more._ _That is, until she almost lost her love._ _It was first, after hurt, danger and traveling, after losing and crying. Then_ _did it finally happen. She at last stopped looked up, and dared to look down._ _Once she did there was no way back._ _As she met the poor boy's eyes for the first time in all the time she had_ _known him, she was drowning._ _It scared her but on the same time filled her with such joy. Suddenly, she_ _realized she would never be able to go on without that poor boy. She did not_ _know when it had happened, if it had happened through a long time or just_ _suddenly, but the boy had stolen her heart, and she needed to be with him._ _He was her strength, her conscious and her reason, and she needed him._ _This just made it all that more tragic, that one dark day, he was suddenly_ _gone._ _The princess had come to pay for her blindness, as she only dared looking_ _down, mere moments before it happened. She had had a whole life of him being_ _by her side, but she had wasted that life looking up, and then he was just_ _gone._ _Leaving the princess alone, although she finally was where she wanted to be -_ _beyond the stars. She had missed the greatest opportunity of all, and now she_ _was left in a dark, sad place, with no means of escape, no means of_ _comfort... and nowhere._

"NO!" Amy screamed the words as she threw the paper aside. "No, no, no!" She cried, not understanding why she was crying. She reached again for the paper with the intention of tearing it apart, but something within herself kept her from doing so. Sobs escaped Amy's mouth, as tears streamed down her cheeks. It was not what was supposed to happen.

_Maybe the boy was poor, but he was also rich. Even though he was gone, he_ _really wasn't - he had made the princess a better person._ _Such simple things as, "I'll do it for you." or "Look at that flower." really_ _meant, 'I love you' when it had come from his mouth. He was precious, too_ _precious to be forgotten._

Amy breathed out in the air. It was supposedly very cold right now, as damp was created with each of her breaths, there was even slight rim of frost around her, creating a glittering carpet on the grass that glittered in contest with the cloud free, star sprayed sky. Amy knew that she should feel cold, only she didn't. She should also feel awed or happy or something. Only she didn't feel that either. Amy just felt strangely empty. She did hear the Doctor approaching her from behind, his soft careful steps, and she accepted his jacket as he put it around her.

"Are you okay?" the Doctor asked, concerned.

"Yes," Amy answered automatically, as she saw the white mist escaping her mouth with the word. "Why would I not be?"

"No reason." The Doctor kept silent for some moments. "What's that?" Ashamed, Amy shoveled her scribbled papers away.

"Nothing," she said quickly. "Just trash I'm going to throw out." But the doctor was not easily fooled, as he sat down beside Amy, and gently pulled the papers out of Amy's hand. Amy felt her cheeks grow red in embarrassment, as the Doctor actually read her little story. She had seen him read before, he could read an entire book in ten seconds, but as of now, he took his time and read each word carefully. Amy even got the impression that he read some words twice to get it all, before he handed the papers back.

"Whatever you do, don't throw that away. Keep it safe." The Doctor instructed her, as she took back her papers.

"Why?" Amy asked, at the same time she did what he instructed and put the papers safely in a pocket inside of the Doctor's jacket that wrapped around her. "Is it important?" Amy asked. The Doctor did not affirm a thing. Amy really hated when he was this cryptic all though she guessed he had his reasons.

"Just keep them safe, and read them once in a while," the Doctor told her softly, kind of too carefully for Amy's taste. "If you feel like adding something in it, just do it."

"Okay," Amy nodded. "Though it's sort of weird, I never write. I just felt a compulsion to it."

"It's good though," The Doctor told her. "That poor boy, doesn't he have a name?" the Doctor asked, though in a way that it sounded like he was stepping around in a mine field.

Amy shrugged. "Well no, but neither does the dashing man. Honestly Doctor, I don't know why I even wrote this."

"Doesn't matter," the Doctor assured her. "Writing is not a bad thing."

"But this story is," Amy objected. "It makes no sense. Why would that boy stay with the princess? And why would he have to pay for what she did. I don't understand it myself."

"Well, I can think of many reasons," The Doctor looked out in the air, speculating. "She is a princess, so she would have to be beautiful. You didn't write of any of her virtues, other than she is a dreamer, which is a good thing. My guess would be that she is feisty, intelligent, compassionate, wise, pure hearted and does all kinds of things worth giving his heart to her."

"But unthankful," Amy sighed. "He would never leave her in a million years, and she just left him without a second thought, and why should he pay? He didn't do anything, but be so brave all the time."

The Doctor smiled vaguely at her with those sad eyes. "It's cold. Let's get back to the TARDIS."

Amy nodded absentmindedly. "Yeah, we should do that."

_The princess was alone, although she wasn't._ _Her own beloved would always be there in her heart. She remembered warm days_ _where they had fed ducks at the pond, he had made a joke, and it had made her_ _laugh. His eyes had lit up, as he realized he had made her do so, and the_ _princess couldn't believe she was that lucky._ _As the princess lay in bed, she could fell her beloved's arms around her, his_ _breath down her neck, and she knew no matter what she did, he would always_ _support her._ _In his eyes, she would always be his princess._ _And even though it had taken a while for the princess to figure it out, he_ _would always be her only real prince._

_

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Authors note;  
_

My deepest and most sincere thanks goes to _darlingsworld_ who took me completely by surprise and on the bed by taking matters into her own hands, beta read the story and just send it to me without warning. That is the nicest bestests morning mail I ever got!

Another deep thanks to does two or three other people who have shown interest in Beta reading, and the reason why I did not contact you were because of broken down network, not because I don't want your help... honestly it's hard to believe that many people would actually ask if they could beta it on the spot, come on, it's just a s fanfic.


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